Peak XV’s Singh on 17-year Pine Labs bet: ‘We broke some rules on ownership’

• Peak XV Partners emerged as the undisputed winner of the Pine Labs IPO, capitalising on a decade-plus thesis about Indian fintech digitisation. With initial checks inked in 2009 and a major institutional round in 2014, Peak XV’s cumulative $35 million outlay has, over the years, resulted in more than $1.1 billion in realised and unrealised value.

• Pine Labs, one of India’s largest digital payments and merchant commerce platforms, was listed on Friday with its shares opening up 10% from the issue price and rising as much as 28% before closing at Rs 252, up by 14%.

  

• Pine Labs had set a price band of Rs 210-221, which pegged the valuation at Rs 25,400 crore or over $2.9 billion. This was a 40% discount to the company’s last valuation of $5 billion in 2022.

• At the close of trade on Friday, Pine Lab’s market capitalisation stood at Rs 28,936 crore ($3.2 billion). Pine Labs raised Rs 2,080 crore in fresh capital and an offer for sale of 82.3 million shares, coming to Rs 1,820 crore.

• Selling shares via multiple rounds before the IPO, Peak XV took out about $575 million. At IPO, it offloaded another large chunk, 23 million shares worth Rs 508 crore ($61 million). Even after these exits, Peak XV retains a 17% stake worth approximately $556 million.

• It is a jaw-dropping 39.5x return on the initial bet. This comes after the mega outcome from the Groww IPO earlier this week, where it sold shares worth $179 million, and its remaining shares are worth $1.7 billion.